


April Fools

by JustAnAwkwardLemon



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst obviously, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, I’ll probably update tags as I go, Multi, Oblivious Morons, Past Relationship(s), Pinkberry and richjake is more implied than obvious I think, Post-Squip, Swearing, probably fluff, still in highschool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-05-31 18:36:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15125462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnAwkwardLemon/pseuds/JustAnAwkwardLemon
Summary: What to do when you have a humongous, soul-eating, heart-wrenching crush on your best friend? According to Jeremy it’s to tell him you love him and then pretend you were kidding.OR: Michael and Jeremy are oblivious morons, and when Jeremy’s confession fails, he blames April fools day.(I suck at writing summaries)





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic here, so sorry if it’s terrible! Also I apologise if the Tagalog isn’t good, I’m not at all fluent and I had to use a website to translate.  
> Anyway I hope you enjoy, i had fun writing this :)

> ** Chapter 1 **

 

Michael Mell hated April fools day more than any other 'holiday' that exists. To him it's just entirely pointless, and kinda stupid. He couldn't bear how even walking through doorway proved difficult, you had to go through the trouble of looking up to check no one had balanced a bucket of water at the top, ready to fall on the unsuspecting victim. Except, Michael wasn't unsuspecting, no, he was ready for anything, as whatever April fools day threw at him, Michael knew he could catch it.

 

Well, except this.

 

***

 

The day started out fine, at least until the crashing realization of the day hit Michael like a ton of bricks. Call him over dramatic if you will, but he stood firm to his resolution to hate the first day of April as long as he lived, and nothing, absolutely _nothing_ could change his mind.

 

His alarm beeped, and he groaned and rolled over, trying to mentally prepare himself from the onslaught of pranks that were sure to come his way. Blinking in the shallow sunlight that came pouring in through a gap in his curtains he attempted to decide on a course of action, as there was no way he was even going to try trundling his way through the day without a plan on how to survive. Only once had Michael  _ever_ been tricked on April fools, and no way in the revolutionary name of Bob Marley was he letting that happen again. It had been awful, even thinking about it gave him humiliated goosebumps.

 

His alarm beeped again, as if agitated with his lack of energy. 

 

“Crap!” Michael mumbled under his breath as the time flicked to change to 8:32. He had almost no time, What with getting himself ready AND picking up Jeremy, and although he hated skipping his sacred daily 7/11 trip, there really was no time. He guessed he’d have to save his binge eating of sushi and slushies for lunch, even though he wasn’t  _technically_ supposed to leave the school grounds in school hours. 

 

After changing he hurriedly clattered upstairs from his secluded basement and rushed into the brightly lit kitchen. In fact, for him it was too bright.

 

”Nanay I can’t see anything, isn’t there a way to turn the lights down in here?” Michael grumbled, shielding his sensitive eyes from the barely-glowing light bulbs.

His mother looked up from the kitchen counter top, where Michael supposed she was preparing breakfast, and grinned 

“Anak I keep telling you, all that time you spend in your room, in the dark playing video games with Jeremy isn’t good for for your eyes. I mean look at you, you’re-“ 

Michael cut her off with “That’s great nanay but I have to leave for school now” His mother tutted. 

“That reminds me, you have to wake up earlier. And don’t forget to eat, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, if you don’t eat breakfast who knows where you’ll be! You could fail tests, miss important things, you could even...” She droned on, her expressive face alive and passionate. Quickly Michael kissed her on the cheek, mumbled a hurried goodbye and fled out the front door.

”Oh, and a happy April fools!” She yelled after, practically cackling with mirth.

”What’s happy about April fools?”

 

********

 

Jeremy Heere woke up feeling like he was going to explode from excitement and throw up simultaneously.

On one hand, it was _finally_ April fools day, you know, the one day a year where he could trick people. He couldn’t fool people any other day of the year as he’d have nothing to blame it on, and he’s already enough of a loser. But now it’s april 1st, he could prank to his heart’s content, and he hopefully wouldn’t be berated for it. 

On the other hand he’d have to deal with people pranking him, and failure is not something he wanted to deal with today. He’d also have yet again try to fool Michael, something he couldn’t do every year. Jeremy didn’t get it, how was one boy so... slippery. Michael managed to slither out of every prank, like a sodden bar of soap in the shower, and Jeremy had no idea how. It didn’t matter though, this year Jeremy was going to catch Michael out, this year he was finally going to beat the almighty Michael. 

 

“Jeremy!” A shrill voice yelled up the stairs. 

Oops. 

Ever since the squipcident Jeremy’s father insisted that they eat all possible meals together. It wasn’t a bad thing, but both Jeremy and Mr Heere had no clue how to connect with each other, despite their joint, desperate need to make up for their lost years together.

Jeremy scrambled to the kitchen, and as he flopped down at the table his father gave him a stern glare.

” Now, Jeremy, I know what day it is today, but I don’t want to hear ANY bad reports about behaviour from you. I know how much you enjoy today.”

Feigning innocence Jeremy sweetly batted his eyes and nodded. As his father turned around, Jeremy readied a paper ball to flick, but before he could fire it his father cut him off.

”Nice try kiddo” He said, without even turning around, “ You may think you’re the best pranker, but I’ve been around longer than you have, and I’m not sacrificing my champion title to a weak paper ball”

 

Jeremy slumped down into his seat.

 

********

 

As Michael’s ugly, gold PT cruiser pulled up into Jeremy’s drive he sluggishly honked the horn, and a few minutes later Jeremy’s unbrushed, mussed-up hair stuck out the door, shortly followed by his head, which yelled:

”Just a sec Mikey!”

Ugh, Michael couldn’t bear the name ‘Mikey’. He hated it! He allowed nobody to call him that, except Jeremy, as he was a special case. They’d known each other for almost thirteen years, and knew almost everything about each other. Michael would trust Jeremy with his  _life_ , and he was sure Jeremy felt the same way. They played video-games practically everyday after school, and Saturday was always their designated sleepover night. Because of this, Michael felt that Jeremy had totally earned the right to call him ‘Mikey’.

 

All that, and the fact that Michael had the biggest, most undeniable, most pathetic gay crush on Jeremy.

 

It was hopeless! Nothing Michael did to try and make his feelings go would work!

But maybe that was because Michael didn’t want his feelings to go. Truth be told, they were a pain in the ass, but a part of him loved to love Jeremy. A part of him loved the way that when the sun shined it was as if Jeremy was the reason for that. When he spoke, his voice seemed to captivate Michael’s entire mind and body, almost possessing his soul. A part of Michael loved how intensely serious Jeremy got over the littlest things, like playing apocalypse of the damned, or how  when he walked the whole world seemed to stand still and take notice, to understand that  _Jeremy_ is the one moving, the he’s the one blessing the very ground under his feet. Michael loved the way his hair shined in light, how it bounced when Jeremy walked. Michael loved how oceanic blue his eyes were, how the set on fire when Jeremy was filled with passion. 

Michael could go on all day about how he loved Jeremy, all day everyday.

 

In short, Michael lived for Jeremy. Sometimes it felt that Jeremy kept him alive. 

 

“Mikey?You awake in there?”

 

Bleugh, it’s too early for this.

 

”Can you at least unlock the door?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and that’s chapter one! Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave constructive criticism, but don’t hurt me I am a fragile soul.
> 
> Also this was supposed to be a one shot but I got too into it, so this chapter may seem kinda short.


	2. Chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again! Thanks to anyone that read this, it makes me really happy. Also sorry if this is short again, I’m still getting used to posting on here.
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Once they arrived at school, Jeremy made a beeline through the colossal throng towards his locker, and he heaved a sigh of relief after making it without causing a scene. That is until he was practically accosted by the one and only Rich Goranski. 

 

“Jeremy! My bro! How’s it going?” Rich all but yelled, ruffling Jeremy’s chestnut curls. 

“H-Hey! That took me _ages_  to do!”

”Seriously? It looked awful.” Rich grinned impishly, “But anyway man, what are you gonna do this year?”

”What?” Jeremy’s brain felt fuzzy, every word Rich loudly proclaimed buzzing around inside his head like a fly on a hot day.

”Duh, your April fools joke, what else! How’re you gonna get Michael this year?” Rich took a breath and then snorted, “Or, how are you going to  _try_ to get him?”

”Um, I haven’t, er, haven’t thought of anything just yet, but-“

”WHAT? You, Jeremy, the ultimate king of April fools hasn’t actually planned anything? Man, I can’t wait to see this play out!”

“Wha- see it play out? You have to help me! I can’t lose to Michael  _again_!” Jeremy whined.

Rich opened his mouth, seemingly to complain, but then shut it again with a snap. His eyes were gleaming mischievously, and Jeremy didn’t like the look of the cocky smirk Rich had on his face.

“I have a  _great_ idea, I think you’ll absolutely  _love_ it...”

”What? Tell me, do you think he’ll fall for it?”

”Oh I think so” Rich was still ominously smirking. 

“Oh just spit it out already!”

”Okay! Ask him out.”

 

”WHAT?”

 

********

 

Michael was confused. 

 

Jeremy hadn’t tried anything, he actually hadn’t done anything at all. This could’ve meant that he wasn’t going to do anything, but Michael knew better than to have false hope. He knew that the fact that Jeremy hadn’t tried to prank him must’ve meant that this was going to be his biggest attempt yet. Quite frankly, Michael was scared. 

You see, he’d been losing his touch for spotting all of Jeremy’s April plans over the past few years, and this year felt like it could be it. It could be the one year that Jeremy finally beat him. But this time, Michael didn’t know if this upset him anymore, if he really still cared, as the thought of seeing Jeremy’s face when he realised he’d finally beaten Michael, well, it wasn’t entirely repulsive. It was easy to imagine how cute he’d look, all happy and- dammit, not now brain!

 

Michael sighed, shrugged his red-hoodie clad shoulders and paused his internal ramble to look around the corridor, which happened to be empty, meaning that- crap! He was late to first period! After attempting to run down the barren halls he decided he couldn’t really find it in himself to even bother going. Instead, he hung out for about an hour inside the janitors closet, listening to Bob Marley and occasionally whistling along to the cheerful tunes.

Something still didn’t feel right. 

 

 _Let's get together and feel all right_  
_As it was in the beginning (One Love!)_  
_So shall it be in the end (One Heart!)_  
_All right!_

And Michael couldn’t work it out for the life of him.

 

********

 

“ _What? Ask him out?_   _What crazy planet are you from?”_

_” It’s not that crazy, I mean you so obviously like him, I think he’s the only person who doesn’t know!”_

_” But still, isn’t that...mean?”_

_”What?”_

_” That’s... toying with his feelings, messing with his head. I want to prank him, not hurt him!”_

_”Oh please, people do this **all**_ _the time! Hell, I think it happened to Michael before!”_

_” Really, when?”_

_” Third grade, Martin Cooper asked him out as a joke, dude it was hilarious”_

_” ...and Michael didn’t mind?”_

_” Nah, I think he found it funny, I can’t remember though, he left the classroom like straight away”_

 

_A beat of silence_

 

_“Okay, I’ll do it. Thanks Rich”_

_” Bro you’re gonna get him this time, I’ll bet he won’t see it coming!”_

_” You’re sure he won’t be upset?”_

_”Jeez Jer, let it go. I promise you, the only thing Michael’ll care about is the fact that you finally pulled one past him.”_

_”Fine. Okay. But if he’s upset, I’m blaming you”_

_”Whatever tall ass.”_

 

_***_

 

Jeremy ran over his previous conversation with Rich, and cringed. Was he really going to ask his best, most trusted friend out as a joke?

‘Well Rich _did_ said Michael wouldn’t care’ Jeremy’s internal monalogue rambled, ‘but then again, the stupid, probably-untrue stuff Rich said could fill a book.’

Screw it.

Thinking about it, this could be a great way for Jeremy to test out how Michael felt about him, and that couldn’t hurt. You see, Jeremy had been crushing on Michael for a while now, almost a year and a half, but it was always practically impossible to try and work out what Michael was thinking, as he was in no way an open book. 

Jeremy didn’t really know why he was so attracted to Michael, his feelings were just sort of...there. They had known each other for so long, it should feel weird, but to Jeremy these feelings felt like the only right thing going on in his life. Michael surprisingly hadn’t changed much over all the years of their friendship, but there were small things that just made themselves announced every now and then. Like how Michael stuck his tongue out when he concentrated, how concerned he got over the smallest things, and of course, his weird love for retro games. Most people found these things about Michael nerdy, or in some cases creepy, but in Jeremy’s situation all these thing just made him like Michael even more. 

Maybe Michael really wouldn’t care, maybe he would even react... positively...

 

********

 

”U-um hey Michael!” Jeremy stood before Michael, fidgeting and looking for all the world as if he was about to skydive without a parachute. 

“Hey buddy, what’s up?”

”I just wanted to ask you, to, um, say that I- well only if you wanted to, I would kinda like-“ Jeremy looked fit to burst, and a wild, panicked look had appeared in his brilliant blue eyes, so Michael cut him off.

” Woah, dude, chill out, they haven’t made the 7/11 slushies self-service  _quite_ yet.” Michael joked, leading Jeremy to a more secluded area of the cramped hallways, “So what were you trying to say?”

God Jeremy looked cute like this. 

It felt mean to say, or well think in this case, as he obviously was troubled about something. However, all Michael could think was how sweet Jeremy’s ruffled, curly hair looked, albeit damp with sweat. And his eyes. God, his eyes. They were blue, but they really weren’t just any old  _blue_ , they were like the sky, as long as the sky was the most beautiful thing to ever exist. They shone in any light, and glowed with passion so much of the time. Michael honestly couldn’t think of anything better than just being able to stare into Jeremy’s eyes all day long. Just stare, all day, into the perfect, alluring, exquisite abyss that was-

“Mikey? You okay there?” Jeremy was gazing curiously at Michael, “ you’ve just been staring at me for about two minutes now.”

Michael shook himself, annoyed. 

“Sorry dude, I was just spacing out.”

”o-okay anyway I just wanted to ask...”

His beautiful, radiant eyes.

”...will you go out with me?”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... sorry if not much happened, I’m still kinda setting it up, and I rushed this chapter a bit anyway. 
> 
> Thanks for readingggg! <3


	3. Chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, sorry for taking a while to update, I had homework and zero motivation...
> 
> Anyway hope y’all enjoy! <3

Michael didn’t think he had ever felt like this before. His stomach swirled dangerously, and his head felt as if someone had spun him around and around in circles and then expected him to walk off, perfect. 

‘ _What?_ I’m sorry I just- _what?_ ’

’ Will you- will you go out...with me? Jeremy’s eyes looked afraid, wide and unsure, but that wasn’t the the problem, the problem was-  _was Jeremy really asking him out?_

 

_Okay, calm down Michael._

‘ I just- are you serious?’ God, Michael hoped he was. 

Slowly, Jeremy eased his tentative head up, and down. 

‘ I um- I... yeah I guess I wouldn’t mind-‘ crap, was he blushing...?

Suddenly Jeremy looked up.

‘Er...joke!’ There was an unreadable expression in Jeremy’s eyes, ‘Just kidding... man I-I finally fooled you... y’know, for April fools!’ 

Wait. 

Did that mean that Jeremy... that he didn’t... 

 

Well crap. 

 

This was unbelievable, unimaginable, and seriously messed up. Why does this always happen to him? It almost felt cliche, except the complete opposite of that, because in every story the people like each, and it’s always so cheesy, but so sweet and romantic. This however, was really something else.

Michael felt...kind of angry. That Jeremy, his  _best_ friend thought this was...funny? After everything that had happened with them? Really? He couldn’t believe Jeremy would do this, it wasn’t like him to be cruel. 

‘...dude did you believe me? Do you like-‘

’What the fuck Jeremy?’ Michael was fuming, steam practically pouring out of his ears. 

‘Huh?’

’ I can’t believe you’d actually... actually... why would you...’ His eyes felt weird. Why couldn’t he see?

’ Michael I didn’t mean- are you crying?’

Oh, maybe that’s why everything was blurry, why his face felt wet. 

‘ I don’t under-underst-understand why you-you’d do this!’ Tears were now openly dripping down Michael’s face, staining his scarlett hoodie with salted water. 

‘Michael, wait, I didn’t... let me explain-‘ Red hot anger bubbles over the numbing misery possessing his body. 

‘ No! No, stop! You don’t get to explain! You-you of all people should understand what you just...I just don’t... you’re the last person in the world I would expect to do something like this!’ 

‘Please, Michael, let me-‘

’No! Fuck you Jeremy!’ 

With tears burning in his eyes, Michael bolted from the room. 

 

How could he of ever thought that  _Jeremy_ could like someone like him?

 

********

 

Well, he’d fucked up. 

 

Seriously though, Jeremy had messed up. Big time. Like it’s-the-start-of-the-zombie-apocalypse-and-I’m-not-prepared kind of mess up. 

And as he stood, frozen, Jeremy realised how stupid he was. He had listened to _Rich. Rich._ Not Jake, not Christine or Brooke, not even Chloe or Jenna. No, he had taken advice from  _Rich_.

Rich wasn’t necessarily bad at giving advice, it was just that he...had a weird sense of humour. He often found...pain funny?

 _Well of course he does you idiot, he used to be a bully,_ Jeremy’s brain almost screamed at him, practically yelling the obvious. 

 

The worst part part of this was that it was Michael he had hurt. His best friend. His closest friend, who, even after the whole squip thing, and the bathroom incident at Jake’s party, had forgiven him almost instantaneously. Who trusted him with pretty much everything. 

 

What the hell had Jeremy done?

 

’Jer! You finally got the balls to ask out Michael?’ 

Jeremy slowly edged round in a circle to face the figure behind him. It was Rich. Of course it was. Anger flooded through his veins. 

‘Rich! What the hell is wrong with you?’ Jeremy all but shrieked, and Rich visibility flinched from the noise. 

‘Hey! What did I do?’ 

Jeremy couldn’t believe this. 

‘Duh! You told me to ask out Michael! And now he’s off somewhere crying his eyes out and you don’t even know what you’ve done?!’

’ So I take it the prank  _didn’t_ go well?’

Jeremy started striding forwards, and Rich, sensing his plan, scurried backwards.  

‘Dude if you’re gonna fight me- I wouldn’t, I actually know how to.’ Although he tried to seem tough, Jeremy could hear the underlying fear in Rich’s voice, as for once Jeremy being tall and lanky paid off, no matter how skilled he was at fighting. 

Jeremy grabbed Rich by the collar and dragged his whole body upwards, so they were almost nose to nose.

’ I’m not going to fight you, Rich’ Jeremy said angrily, ‘ but you are going to help me make this up to Michael, got it?’ Rich didn’t reply.

’ _Got it?_ _’_

Rich looked up at him with wide eyes, obviously surprised. Jeremy was always the nice, awkward one of the group, it was unsettling to see him so hostile. 

‘Yes, yeah I got it!’ He croaked, the collar of his shirt digging dangerously into his windpipe, ‘But please put me down, I can’t breathe!’

’Shit! Sorry.’ Jeremy carefully set him down against the lockers, and turned to stride away. Instead, he was greeted by a large crowd, who were all completely shell shocked that the apparent loser Jeremy Heere had terrified the famous Rich Goranski.

’Um, can I just...’ Jeremy gestured to the crowd uncertainly, and slowly,  _agonisingly_ slowly the mob parted.

 

********

 

_Breathe 1-2-3_

_breathe 1-2-3_

_br-breathe 1-1-2-3_

_brea-the 1-22-3_

_Michael, calm down._

_Michael, just breathe._

_Bre-athe_

_breathe_

_1 - 2 - 3_

_Michael._

_He couldn’t stop shaking._

Michael was sat on the floor of the restroom, uncontrollably shaking, rocking back and forth as his body heaved with sobs.

How could he be so stupid? 

As if Jeremy could ever like a loser like him. 

 

This had happened before.

 

_***_

 

 

 

’Michael! Hey Michael!’ 

Michael looked up. He was in a classroom filled with over-enthusiastic third-graders, and to make it worse his best friend Jeremy wasn’t even in school, he was sick. 

It was April 1st, and Michael was still trying to think of a way to prank people. Usually he and Jeremy would team up against the rest of the class, but today, even without Jeremy, Michael was determined he could do it alone.

’Hey Mikey!’  _that’s a cute name, he thought silently,_ ’I wanted to talk to you!’

It was a boy from his class, called Martin Cooper, who Michael thought had the prettiest looking hair. It was a soft, shiny blond, and it bobbed whenever he moved. 

Martin was one of the cooler boys in Michael’s class, so he was confused and yet flattered as to why this boy was talking to  _him._  

‘Hey so d’ya wanna-‘ he paused and smirked at all the popular kids, ‘-be my boyfwend?’ He kept giggling throughout, and said ‘boyfriend’ in such a ridiculous baby voice, but once Michael deciphered the message he blushed a deep red. 

‘Huh, I-er...okay?’ He grinned cheesily, and the entire class erupted into mountainous laughter. 

‘Ha! You actually thought..? Loser! As if I would actually...!’ As Martin shrieked with mirth, Michael started to laugh too. 

Except it didn’t feel like laughter, instead his chest hurt. And he felt as he was going to throw up. 

Michael slowly stood, his face draining of colour, and with a shaky breath he ran from the room, away from the cheerful squeals. As soon as he reached the bathroom, he fully burst into embarrassed tears. 

_If only Jeremy were here, he thought._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blooop
> 
>  
> 
> Poor Michael :((((


	4. Chapter four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I’ve just been so busy lately and haven’t had the time or motivation to do anything!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

_If only Michael were here..._  

 

How Jeremy managed to struggle through classes until lunch, he would never know. However, he made it, and was waiting in agony for Michael to arrive. He had to apologise, do something to try and fix this mess; he felt awful. 

As students filed into the cafeteria, chattering and laughing about general dilemmas, Jeremy’s eyes flicked around the room. The vile scent of crappy school meals filled his nostrils, especially as he took in the sight of the broken-tiled walls, the crippled fold-out tables and the fluffy steam rising from the cracked hatch from where food was collected.  

‘Yo Heere, move over.’ It was Jake, who, admittedly hadn’t done anything wrong, Jeremy was glaring at. This was probably because Rich and Jake always seemed to be a pair, they always lumped together for pretty much everything.

To be honest, Jeremy knew he was being unfair by blaming Rich for this. Sure, Rich gave the advice, terrible as it may have been, but Jeremy took it. He was the one who actually hurt Michael, it just felt so much easier to blame somebody else.

Jeremy shuffled along a seat, and as he did so, others started to arrive at the lunch table, calling out various greetings. As the clock ticked, Jeremy simple poked at his pasta, unaware to the noise of people in the background, or to the fact that somebody was attempting to draw his attention. 

‘Jeremy? Jeremy?  _Jeremy!_ ’ the voice sounded frustrated, and eventually the panic-crazed boy slowly turned his head to the side.

’Finally! I’ve been trying to get your attention for about five minutes now!’ Of course, it was Christine, and she looked at Jeremy worriedly.

’Hm? Oh, um, hello?’ Awkwardly, he answered, flushing and stammering all the way through him simple sentence. The group sighed, and turned back to Christine.

’See, I told you, he’s totally distracted. It’s like he’s not even here! Jeremy, maybe you should-‘

’Or maybe  _you_  should just quit bugging him for like ten minutes!’ Rich snapped, looking at Jeremy with apologetic eyes, pleading for forgiveness.

Jeremy looked away.

Crash! Suddenly, a lunch tray slammed aggressively onto the table, the smash echoing throughout the entire cafeteria. Headphones blaring loud music, red hoodie smothering a lean body, the person slumped into a spare seat, the opposite end of the table to Jeremy.

Of course, it was Michael.

And he seemed...angry. It appeared that his sadness from earlier had drained away, and had been replaced with red-hot hatred.

’H-hey Michael!’ Jeremy called across the table nervously, but instead of the usual cheery reply, Jeremy received a huff and a scathing glare.

’Okay, What is going on?’ Jenna asked curiously, looking between the two boys questioningly. Both Jeremy and Rich replied simultaneously.

’Nothing!’ Jeremy’s voice was high pitched and nervous, whereas Rich still seemed aggravated.

A silence dragged across the table.

’I beg to differ.’ Michael drawled slowly, leaning back in his seat and staring up at the ceiling.

Chloe pitched in. ‘Seriously, What is up with you two, usually you’re a package deal, it’s like you both...-‘

’-got lost in the mail!’ Finished Brooke promptly, and although Chloe tutted at this cheesy statement and turned away, Jeremy noticed a glint of humour resting in her eye. 

‘Nothing is _up_ , we’re just having a small...disagreement.’ stated Jeremy, but the rest of the group turned to Michael.

’Well you see, Jeremy thinks he’s absolutely hilarious, and he apparently doesn’t know that some people actually have feelings, y’know, like normal human beings.’ Michael said all of this in a joking tone, but the hurt hidden behind every word was clear, and the others frantically tried to change the subject.

‘S-so...what’s the school play gonna be this year?’ Brooke hurriedly asked Christine.

’Didn’t you know? They’re not doing a play this year, I mean after what happened last year...can you really blame them?’ Christine sounded extremely disappointed and downcast, whilst looks were sent in Jeremy’s direction. 

He could feel himself flushing a deep red, and his breathing quickened. He couldn’t believe he was the reason there was now no school play- Christine  _lived_  for acting onstage, she seemed to enjoy it more than anything else. God, he was pathetic. No wonder she dumped him after only two weeks of dating. No wonder Michael now hated him. All of the others probably hated him too, they just felt bad and couldn’t tell him how they really felt. He should do them all a favour and just get out of their hair, he could leave now and- 

‘Jeremy? You with us buddy?’

Jeremy was aware of Jake asking this question, but he was distracted by the feeling of Michael’s eyes burning into the side of his face. Michael probably knew what thoughts were running through Jeremy’s head at that moment, he seemed to have a talent for always guessing what was bothering his player two. 

Could Jeremy still call himself player two?

Okay, he was thinking too much into this. It was just a small fight, that was all. All he had to do to fix this was to catch Michael alone, apologise, and then everything would be okay.

It had to be.

 

********  

 

Michael couldn’t believe how weird Jeremy was acting about this. One minute he was obviously panicked, and he sounded terrified, but the next minute he started to seem so calm.

’Jeremy? You with us buddy?’ Jake had asked, and Michael stared almost venomously at Jeremy. Not a second passed when Jeremy replied with:

’Yeah dude, I was just spacing out.’ He mumbled this in a dull, flat tone, with next to no emotion.  

So maybe Michael was being slightly harsh, he didn’t even give Jeremy a chance to say sorry, but to be fair what Jeremy did really hurt him; surely it’s understandable Michael was so uptight about this.

Eventually, after a long, strained lunch, the bell for last period finally rang, and Michael walked off without a single word. Petty, but it left a profound impact, as Jeremy looked extremely guilty.

Michael didn’t even take notice of the class he was in- he was too distracted by the many thoughts wandering through his head- which was unfortunate as the teacher decided it was a great time to call on him, picking on students seemed to give a lot more joy to teachers than most other things.

‘Mr Mell?’ Michael glanced up to see the rest of the class staring. ’Hm? Oh s-sorry sir I was just...erm...’ he trailed off, to tired to think of an acceptable excuse.

The teacher walked closer, leering as of Michael were an ugly artifact in an unfortunate museum.

’Mr Mell,’ his voice dropped to a barely-audible whisper, ‘would you like to go to the nurse?’ 

Would he? Obviously. Being in school by itself is a pain in the ass, so being offered a free pass to get out is like a dream come true. Plus, then he won’t have to see Jeremy ‘till tomorrow. Geez, even thinking about his name hurt.

Michael forced his voice to sound wobbly, and feebly answered the teacher’s question. ’Y-yes please,’ he faked a loud, hacking cough, ‘...sir, that would be nice.’ Excellent, his voice even sounded croaky from earlier.

Dramatically, Michael strutted from the room, as the other students staring longingly. He couldn’t be bothered to actually go to the nurse-she’d probably send him back to class- so he casually strolled to his locker, grabbed his stuff, and made his way to his beaten-up PT cruiser in the parking lot.

He felt a pang of regret as he was climbing into his seat, as he realised Jeremy would have no ride home, but Michael just shook his head, Jeremy had brought this on himself. Michael turned the key, and the car roared to life. 

He had done what was right, hadn’t he? He wasn’t at blame here, Jeremy messed up, not him.

 

********  

 

God, these classes were way to long. Jeremy wondered if he should try to leave early, he wanted to catch Michael at his locker, try to fix things before they went home, especially as otherwise the ride home would be awkward as hell.

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

The drilling sound of the ever-ticking clock was relentless and never ending, every tick boring a hole straight into Jeremy’s brain. Still twenty minutes to go, he knew he should probably tune into the lesson, but they were watching a documentary, about...actually, what was it about? The screen was fuzzy, and the images danced around his head.

_Clang!_

The end of school already? How long had he been zoning out? Whatever, he just had to find Michael as soon as humanly possible.

***

There was a small possibility that Michael...wasn’t in school anymore.

This was evident to Jeremy as it had been half an hour since the end of school and Michael hadn’t shown up at his locker. Maybe he was waiting in the car?

As Jeremy made his way out to the parking lot he thought over what to say to Michael. Obviously he had to apologise, but what could he say to make Michael understand that he really didn’t mean to hurt him? He was originally going to just blame Rich, but Jeremy guilty realised that it wasn’t really his fault. All Rich had done was given out some advice that backfired miserably.

Finally Jeremy made it out to the parking lot, and he looked around for Michael’s car.

Where was it? Jeremy was sure they had parked  _right there_ , in fact, they had definitely parked there, as he recognised the stain on the ground, it looked like pac-man.

Had Michael left without him? No, he wouldn’t do that, not without giving Jeremy a chance to apologise or explain.Again, he peered around, maybe Michael had moved the car? 

Ultimately, Jeremy gave up looking for Michael’s car. It was useless, Michael had without doubt left without him. 

He had really screwed up this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaa okayyy that was that.
> 
> Thanks to anybody that had read this, I really appreciate you taking the time to read this! <<3


	5. Chapter five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry I’ve been gone! I’ve just had such a jam-packed schedule lately I haven’t found time to do anything other than sleep!  
> Also I’m from England, so I apologise if some things don’t make sense.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Playing video games by yourself was really a bummer when all you knew was two player. Honestly, Michael couldn’t even count the amount of times zombies smashed him from behind, he was way too used to having Jeremy watch his back. In fact, he hadn’t even killed a single zombie yet, usually he would’ve destroyed tons of them by now.

It seemed pointless to continue being beaten, so Michael switched off the game and decided to try and finish his homework. This plan was to no avail as the words swam about in front of his face, and his pencil kept slipping out of his hand. Eventually, it fell to the floor and rolled to the far corner of the room. Michael sighed, joints creaking as he stood up to grab the pencil. As he tried to stumble across the room his toe caught on the edge of his desk, causing him to yelp and fall to the ground. Instead of getting up however, he just lay there, head resting on the old, crusty carpet and tried to think about...everything that had occurred that day.

Was he being too over dramatic about this? Well obviously, he was a naturally dramatic person, but Jeremy had meant to just play a harmless joke. He didn’t _mean_ to be cruel, and Michael was sure Jeremy didn’t mean to hurt him, it was just that...in those few fleeting seconds he believed it was true Michael felt like he was floating. He had felt unbelievably happy, almost in ecstasy that what he had wanted for so long had finally happened...and then to have that ripped away from him, well it really hurt.

He exhaled. Tomorrow, he’d talk to Jeremy. Give Jere the chance to apologise, and then say sorry himself for freezing Jeremy out. Yes, this was a good plan, way better than any of his others.

Out of the blue his phone buzzed loudly.

**Hey, Michael it’s me. You probably guessed it was me anyway so I’m just saying sorry. Again.**

It buzzed again.

**Okay ignore that, it wasn’t enough. I’m really sorry, like I know I shouldn’t of pranked you like that, it was unfair and believe me, I regret it. So yeah, I’m sorry.**

Michael rolled over, deliberately ignoring the messages lighting up his phone screen. This was petty, and he knew that, but for some reason he couldn’t help it.

**Michael?**

 

********

 

This was frustrating. Michael had left him on ‘read’ which was understandable considering the situation, but now Jeremy was worried about him. Maybe Michael wasn’t ignoring Jeremy, maybe he was hurt, or ill or something terrible had happened. Jeremy took a long breath. There was no point in staying home panicking, so he grabbed his coat, hurriedly tied his shoes and bolted from the room like a startled rabbit.

The tree-lined streets looked narrow and cramped as Jeremy hastily sped along in the direction of Michael's house, leaves eerily whispering behind him. Jeremy shivered, and blamed it on the cold.

Eventually, Jeremy made it to Michael’s without incident, and he hesitantly hovered outside the painted door, hand poised in the position to knock. A moment passed, and he gently rapped on the wood. A couple of minutes ticked by when the door was finally pulled open by Michael’s mom, who smiled at the sight of Jeremy.

‘Oh hey there Jeremy, you’re here to see Michael?’

’Y-yeah’ Jeremy stuttered, internally panicking for what he would say to Michael.

’Okay! I’ll just be a second, gotta go check how he is, he came home seeming so down about something...hey, maybe you can cheer him up!’ Michael’s mom seemed much too upbeat, and he smiled nervously at her.

She bustled off, presumably down to the basement, and Jeremy could hear muffled voices. He strained his ears, but couldn’t work out a single word of what they were saying. He stared at the floor, frowning, slipping into a day-dream.

At this moment, Michael’s mom decided to reappear, look oddly flustered and red in the face.

’Erm, I afraid Michael...isn’t home right now,’ she looked frustrated,’He must’ve gone out without telling me, annoying as it is there’s nothing I can do. I’m sorry.’

’N-no that’s fine...um just...tell him to text me?’ There was no way Michael had actually gone out, even Jeremy knew that.

’Yep, I will, and Jeremy?’ She paused as he had started to turn away and lowered her voice, ’I’m sure this’ll sort itself out.’

’O-okay thank you Mrs Mell, I um...hope it does?’ He mumble this as if it were a question, but Michael’s mom seemed to understand. She smiled thinly and quietly closed the door.

On the walk back the trees seemed less ominous, but either way Jeremy rushed to get home. He couldn’t stop thinking about Michael. He had heard voices, Michael was obviously home and didn’t want to speak to him, but wasn’t that unfair? Surely it was only right that he had the chance? He shook his head, he was in the wrong here, he can’t expect everything to go his way, he’d have to try and find Michael tomorrow.

 

********

 

Okay, so Michael was being seriously unfair. Even his mom thought this, and she was usually pretty lax about most things. However you couldn’t deny how mad she was that he wasn’t even going to try to fix things.

’He’s your best friend anak! Surely you don’t want to lose him?’

Of course he didn’t want to lose that-who would?- it’s just that he didn’t...feel ready to just forgive Jeremy like that. It had only been what, half a day? Sure, now he was being mean, and petty and super overdramatic, but he was...trusting his instincts, his gut feelings. He was doing what felt right to him, that had to be way more important than anything else. This was so stupid, he was getting incredibly worked up from a ridiculous backfired joke.

Michael scratched his head absentmindedly and stared at the ceiling lifelessly. Maybe he should just clear his head and grab a slushy or something. This seemed like a way better plan than just staring at the ceiling for another hour, so Michael quietly crept out to his car. It wasn’t like his mom wouldn’t let him leave, she was just in such a bad mood after having to send Jeremy away that Michael was quite frankly scared.

Thankfully his mom didn’t seem to hear the roaring and scraping of his truck as he pulled out the driveway, he would probably have been chased down the street if she did.

His drive to 7/11 was so quiet and dull. If he wasn’t driving he could guarantee that he would’ve been staring out of the window like that classic scene you always see in a film. The outside world blurred and rushed past, giving space for thinking, except Michael was finally tired of thinking and just wanted to sleep. Make it all go away ‘till tomorrow. He exhaled sluggishly and managed to keep his eyes on the road until he eventually pulled up to a convenience store on the side of a crowded road. After what felt like an hour of trying to find a big enough space to park (having a relatively big car did not pay off in this situation), Michael walked into the store and strode up to the till. He didn’t even bother looking up to say:

‘I’ll have a blue slush, please.’ His tone was too harsh, meaning that the poor worker was probably taking the brunt of Michael’s pent-up anger. At least he remembered to say please.

’Michael?’

Michael looked up at the sound of his name.

’Rich?’ It was odd, Rich looked worried, and slightly scared of something, ‘I didn’t know you worked here.’

‘It-it’s a side job actually.’ He stuttered, his face pale. Rich started pouring out a blue slushy, but paused halfway through the process, turning back to face Michael.

’Random query,’ his voice sounded much more normal now, except from a slight quaver which was almost inaudible at first,’you have...fixed things with Jeremy have you? Because if you haven’t I promise you, he didn’t mean to hurt you, I mean, I didn’t even think you’d take it this way! I was just trying to help him-‘ Rich tried to continue but Michael stopped him.

’I’m sorry, but what do you mean you didn’t think I would take it this way, and that you were trying to help him? What are you talking about?’ Michael indignantly screeched, his voice startling nearby shoppers.

’He didn’t tell you? It was my idea...I was pestering him about what he was gonna do and because he didn’t know I gave him the idea and told him you wouldn’t freak out about it!’

’This was _your_ idea? _You_ told him to do it?’ Michael sounded torn between being mad or feeling guilty.

’Yeah, and I’m really sorry dude, I seriously didn’t wanna hurt you, I just though it would be...funny or something.’ Rich miserably admitted. He finished pouring out the slushy and handed it to Michael.

‘It’s on me.’ He said quietly, smiling regretfully, and Michael nodded whilst silently backing out of the store. Once he had exited, he ran to his car, climbed in, and slammed the door shut. He slumped into the seat, and clutched at his aching head.

God, this was too confusing. Michael no longer had any idea of what to think. Was it Jeremy’s fault? Rich told him to do it! But Jeremy still chose to do it. But maybe he didn’t want to, Rich could be pretty pressuring. But then-

Michael slammed his head onto the wheel, causing the horn to let out a shrill squeal. He had to stop thinking about it, Michael knew he was way too tired. He just had to go home and sleep. Go home, sleep, and not think about it until tomorrow.

This was so stupid, he was taking this so far, it wasn’t that serious. After lifting his head, Michael started to drive himself home, but instead of turning onto his road, he kept driving. He knew exactly where he was going, and he knew it was a terrible idea, but he wanted to talk to Jeremy. He wanted to explain, to sort this out, to stop both of them being so preposterously nonsensical.

His car dragged on the gravel in front of Jeremy garage, and practically leapt out of the vehicle. He realised going to the front door was a bad idea, so instead he pushed open the gate (which creaked dismally), and clambered up the crisscrossing terrace at the back of the house. The wooden structure groaned alarmingly a few times during his ascent, but he luckily made it up to Jeremy’s bedroom window without any incident.

Of course, this was the moment that Michael froze up and started panicking. What was he really supposed to do now? He had appeared at the bedroom window of his best friend-and crush-and now he didn’t know what to do. Did he knock? Did he text Jeremy? Or did he just let himself in uninvited? This was almost a romantic gesture, showing up and...throwing rocks at the glass or something. Should he throw rocks? No, he knew he’d probably throw too hard and smash it.

He decided to knock, and ever-so-slowly raised his clenched fist to the glass, letting out a tentative knock, which echoed across the inky night sky. He yanked his hand back immediately, already regretting his decision to come. Honestly, it was the middle of the night!

Michael tried to start hastily climbing back down the building, when the window was suddenly flung open, and a hand stretched out towards him, stark white against the starry black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started almost falling asleep towards the end, plus I wanted get this chapter out as soon as I could, so it may be slightly rushed.
> 
> Thanks for reading! <^v^>


	6. Chapter six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *nervously sweats* wow, it has been a short while since I last wrote...sorry! I had a lot of stuff I had to deal with, and the idea of writing was stressing me out, so pushing back this chapter was the only thing that made sense to me. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway though!

Somebody knocking on your window in the dead of night is never what you want to wake up to. After hearing a sudden this and frantic scrabbling, Jeremy absentmindedly dragged his sleep-deadened body to the window and pulled it open. Then, with a gust of false confidence he’d flung his arm out into the cool night. 

“Hello?” Jeremy all but squealed, staring blindly out into his dark garden, which looked as if it was swamped with tar. 

There was a small squeak and another rustle from below. 

Jeremy peered down the lattice against his wall. “Hello? Who’s there?” This should probably have been the first question he asked, as if there was every chance a creepy psychopath was waiting to kill him- although this did seem highly improbable. 

“Jeremy? It’s um...it’s me.” A solitary voice called out from within the gloom. Jeremy froze in surprise. 

“Michael?” 

“Yeah, it’s me...I hate to ask, but...could you help me up? My foot is stuck in your stupid wooden stuff.” 

“I...yeah sure.” Jeremy paused, considering the situation, “Why are you here?” 

“I had to talk to you. But could we do that in a bit, as I can’t feel my legs.” Michael sound worn and slightly sad.

”Hang on a sec...let me find my phone or a flashlight or something.”

Jeremy stumbled over to his dresser and scrabbled for his phone. Unable to locate it, instead Jeremy hurriedly swiped a flashlight, flicked the power button, and ran back the the window. 

“Michael?” Jeremy worriedly asked as the black blob had disappeared. Jeremy was starting to wonder if he had just imagined it all when a strained call of confirmation was mumbled. 

“Yeah, yeah, but hurry I just heard a crack!”

Grabbing Michael’s outstretched hand, Jeremy pulled him into the dark room, grunting with the effort. Maybe it was the lack of sleep Jeremy had had, or maybe it was because it was the middle of the night, but it felt as though Michael weighed a million tons. Heaving, the two boys slumped into the room and into a pile of the floor. 

Jeremy started giggling, the situation suddenly seeming hilarious, and Michael hesitantly joined in. Soon, they were both in a pile by the window, laughing as if the past day hadn’t happened. 

Suddenly, Michael stood up. 

“Okay, so I had to-have to talk to you.” He sounded conflicted, and Jeremy also pulled himself up.

”Yeah, me too, I wanted to just, you know, say sorry again. This time in person at least.” The was a pregnant pause and Jeremy swallowed, dampening his dry throat. “I’m really sorry Michael, I just...I wanted to be funny, and you know me, I don’t know my own limits. And I-“ Michael abruptly cut him off. 

“Wait, Jere, I know that Rich told you to do it. And Rich is scarily convincing, so I guess it really isn’t entirely your fault.”

Jeremy smiled weakly, but Michael wasn’t finished.

”Also...I want to apologise.” He shook away Jeremy’s noises of complaint and continued, “Sure I was upset and all, but I reacted kinda stupidly. And over dramatic. You know me.” He gave a cheeky grin and Jeremy beamed. Everything seemed okay. 

Jeremy started to stand blundering around for what to do next-considering it was the middle of the night- when Michael quietly spoke again. 

“Why did you do it though?”

Why did he do it? Despite what Michael probably thought, no one was physically forcing him to, and Rich didn’t really have that much power over him anymore (not as much anyway). Of course, it would be sweet to say Jeremy did it because he loved him, but that wasn’t really true either. Maybe Jeremy just did it because he was bored of how Michael didn’t feel the same. Having a crush on someone really hurt when it was unrequited. While this was probably true, Jeremy also knew inside that maybe he just wanted to do it, to see what would happen. To see what Michael would do. It had seemed harmless really, he just hadn’t expected Michael to care this much.

 

“Oh, I didn’t even know what I was doing.” 

Michael chuckled.

”Typical!”

 

******** 

 

The next morning dawned cold and frosty, meaning Michael slipped on his red hoodie- like usual- and also a thick winter coat before leaving. On his way out of the door Michael’s mother stopped him. 

“Please make things up with Jeremy. I know that you hate it when I interfere, but he’s your best friend.” She stared at him expectantly and he rushed to reply. 

“Actually I already did. I talked to him last night, we sorted everything out.”   

This being said, it didn’t feel completely fine. Last night, once both boys had finished speaking, something felt as though it were hanging in the air...unsaid. And Michael didn’t for the life of him know what it was. 

Plus, now that he was thinking about it, it could be really awkward. What if Jeremy wanted to keep talking about stuff? It was fine last night, as Michael was practically high off sleep deprivation and had no idea what he was saying, but now that he had a clear head, wouldn’t it just be awkward?

**Hey my dad’s driving me today so u don’t have to pick me up for school**

Jeremy’s message pinged on Michael’s phone, and he shot back a quick reply of confirmation. 

 Well now he didn’t have to worry about an awkward car ride. 

***

Arriving at school was a palaver, as there were hardly any parking spaces, and the ones that were available were either hidden or way to small for Michael’s PT cruiser. Eventually, he managed to park and made it through the doors just as the bell rang. 

The first few lessons past by in a dreamlike blur, and by the time Lunch arrived Michael was exhausted. After grabbing his lunch from the cafeteria, Michael headed in the direction of his usual table, and was pleased to see that Jeremy was back in his regular seat. As he walked to hi seat, Jeremy’s eyes flicked up, and both of them stared awkwardly. Michael sat down and tried to look natural. 

“Yo Michael, you look weird, what’s going on?” 

Dammit. 

“Huh?” Michael didn’t even look up to reply, but he could feel the stares of his whole table. Christine started speaking. 

“Hey, is everything okay between you two today?” She said, swinging her fork around lazily.

”What do you mean?” Michael said, knowing full well what’s he meant. 

“I mean, you two were acting like something terrible had happened, and yet now you’re fine, so is everything okay?”

“Yeah everything’s fine,” Jeremy piped up, “You know how we are, we had to take everything so far out of context.” This response seemed to satisfy everyone to Michael’s relief, and he finally managed to finish his lunch. 

Michael’s relief, however, was incredibly short-lived. Almost as soon as the bell signalling the end of lunch drilled, Jeremy shot away, leaving Michael to wonder if everything really was okay. 

This was becoming a general theme lately: Michael would think everything was fine then things would change, and Jeremy appeared sad and kinda distant. To be honest, Michael didn’t care that much anymore. Except for the fact that he totally did and wished he could just change the way this all was, change it to fit what he wanted. And on top of that, he knew that even if everything was exactly as he wanted it, he still wouldn’t be happy, because it doesn’t matter how perfect everything is; you still want more. 

 

“Michael?” Whoever was speaking was blabbering in a discernible crush. “Michel?”

”Huh? Yeah, what?” 

“It-it’s the end of lunch...are you okay?” 

“What...I...yeah I’m fine I just...I gotta go.”

 

********

 

He was not being cruel- not really at least. Jeremy just had a lot to think about. So much that it took him almost the entire day to realise that he didn’t just want an apology. No, he wanted so much more than that. 

It was in his last lesson of the day when this revelation hit him, in fact it almost made him fall out of his chair. 

The night before, Jeremy had felt okay with everything that happened, and the whole apology. But that morning, Jeremy woke up feeling...uncomfortable. Dissatisfied. Like there was something more he wanted. And even after Michael had left there was...something hanging. Buzzing in the air. Plus, Jeremy still felt bad, even after Michael had forgiven him. It really just felt like it had been blown out of proportion, yet Jeremy felt bad. 

“Mr Heere, what is your view on this?” The teacher suddenly cut into Jeremy’s internal monologue. 

“Huh? Well, I think that...that...that there are many ways of seeing this.”

”That is technically true, however I asked for  _your_ view.” the teacher impatiently continued.

”Um, I don’t think I can  _really_ answer that right now, I mean I’m unprepared, caught off-guard, a-and-“

”Alright Mr Heere that will do, next time a simple ‘I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening’ will suffice.” 

Jeremy flushed a dark red.

”Yes ma’am.”

Well that could’ve gone better. 

After that, Jeremy tried to focus on the work, and stared down at his pencil, which was slippery with sweat. Eventually, the bell clanged loudly, and once dismissed, Jeremy slipped from his seat and out of the room. 

He made to his locker and dumped his stuff without even bothering to grab anything he needed for that night-because he had somewhere else to be. 

He was almost in a frenzy, practically running through the hallways searching for Michael. He must’ve bumped into so many people- including strangers, teachers, and his friends (he’d have to deal with them tomorrow.)  

In his state of panic he blanked out and couldn’t remember where on Earth Michael’s locker was, until he was out by the playing field and it hit him that Michael wouldn’t be at his locker, as the bell rung at least ten minutes ago and Michael was usually pretty swift. 

Jeremy sprinted towards the parking lot, and spotted a red hoodie-clad figure wearing white headphones loping to a rusty coloured car. 

“Michael!” Jeremy screeched, but Michael was too immersed in his music. 

“Michael! MICHAEL!” Finally, Michael noticed Jeremy’s yells and turned around, eyes wide.

”Jeremy?” They were only ten metres apart now, and as Jeremy forgot to stop running he crashed straight into Michael’s arms. 

“Michael, Michael I have to just say...I wanted to tell you...to tell you...”

”Jere what is it?” This was like the last time Jeremy told Michael something, which was the day before. And that was a disaster. 

A complete disaster. 

“Jere?”

But this was different. This was real.

Jeremy’s lips crashed into Michael’s, and Jeremy now felt like he knew what was he had been missing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! 
> 
> There should be one more chapter now after this, and I’ll try to get that done as soon as possible.   
> Sorry it’s slightly rushed , I wanted to get it out quickly.   
> Apart from that, thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter! Hope it lives up to any expectations, but who really knows as it took me another ten years to write.

 

The world was spinning. Was it really spinning? It could’ve been for all Michael and Jeremy could care. They were much too busy realising everything they’d been missing out on as of late. 

The way Michael’s lips felt softer than anything to Jeremy. 

The way Jeremy’s lips were incredibly chapped and chewed but Michael didn’t care. 

There were no fireworks, no butterflies flitting; the way kissing was described to be like, but that didn’t matter to either boy. They had the one person they wanted, and that meant more to them than how kissing was supposed to work.

After what felt like an hour of unadulterated bliss (but was really about three minutes), they pulled apart, eyes soft and warm in the gentle evening light. 

Both boys started speaking in unison:

“Sorry I just-“

”Jere-“

They laughed and both motioned for the other to speak. 

“Sorry, you speak first, Mikey.”

”No! You continue what you were saying!” Michael flapped away Jeremy’s objections, and eagerly looked at him.

”O-Okay, I just wanted to say sorry if you didn’t-“ Michael’s face started to fall, and Jeremy hastily backtracked. “-sorry if you didn’t...didn’t realise that...that...I really like you!”

Michael looked up suddenly, mouth falling open and eyes flickering this way and that. Jeremy couldn’t tell if his silence seemed positive or not, so he quickly continued.

”And I mean that I like-like you, even if that’s the kind of phrase first graders use! You don’t have to like me back,” Jeremy averted his eyes, staring at the brakelights on a nearby car, “-I just wanted you to know. Also that I’m sorry, for everything that’s happened over the past few days. I was an absolute ass. I can leave now, if you want me to?” Jeremy’s tone, though slightly awkward and stilted, was admittedly hopeful. 

“No...no, I don’t want you to leave.”

”You don’t? Really? Because that was a creepy confession I just gave!”

”Jere, I...like-like you too. A lot. And I have for a very very long time too. Longer than you, I’m willing to bet.”

”Yeah? How much?” Jeremy chucked, his hand still encasing Michael’s. He ran his fingers over Michael’s knuckles, and smiled at the taller boy.

”So where do we go from here? I mean, we both like each other, and...” Jeremy trailed off, unsure of where he was actually going with his sentence.

Michael bent down, and pressed a kiss to Jeremy’s cheek.

”I’m pretty hungry, wanna go eat?”

”L-like a date?” Jeremy stuttered, ashamed of how awkward he had to be. 

“Yeah, like a date...if that’s okay with you?”

”Oh, it’s okay with me.”

 

********

 

When Jeremy woke up he couldn’t comprehend why his cheeks where stretching up in a smile, when the events of the day before flooded back.

He felt...really quite happy, and the echoes of Michael’s words sunk in. Especially from the end of their date, when Michael dropped him off at his house.

_“Don’t go overthinking things, I like you, and you like me. That’s enough for me.”_

He had sounded sincere for one thing, and it felt genuine and real to Jeremy. When he had dated Christine, saying ‘I like you’ felt like such a lie when they told each other that, but with Michael, every time he uttered those words Jeremy’s stomach flipped over and danced in mad circles-in a good way though. 

Jeremy yawned, and slid out of bed reluctantly. As he padded to the kitchen he couldn’t help the large grin from creeping onto his face. He grabbed an apple, still smiling, and his dad looked at him questioningly.

”Okay there, son?”

”Huh? What? No I’m just- I mean- wait what?” Jeremy silently cursed himself as he stumbled over his words.

Mr Heere raised an eyebrow. 

“I’m going to just pretend I have no clue what’s going on, but all I’ll say is be careful, and use protection.”

”Dad! Geez, that is not what I want to hear right now!”

”I’m just saying kid, safe sex is no joke, I mean when me and your mom were younger-“

“DAD! I don’t want to hear it, ew!”

”Alright, alright, I’ll stop.”

Jeremy made to walk out the kitchen

”Of course, the summer of 1992 was really quite fun, we both-“

Jeremy screamed.

 

********

 

When Michael woke up he was immediately confronted with his curtains being loudly dragged open by his mother, and the blinding sunlight stinging his tired eyes.

”Wake UP Micah, you will be late if you don’t move right now!”

It was a cheery greeting. 

After downing what was probably a litre of juice and eating his body weight in cereal, Michael’s phone buzzed.

**hi, u don’t have to pick me up today as my dad is going to drive me in**

A minute passed when another text lit up his screen.

**< 3**

Michael smiled, and could sense Jeremy’s fear through the text. In fact, he was willing to bet money that Jeremy was panicking that sending a heart was too soon. He grabbed his phone and replied. 

**Okay! See u at lunch I guess <33**

 

Since he didn’t have to pick up Jeremy, Michael left about five minutes later than usual, and arrived at school just as the bell rang. After hurriedly apologising to his teacher and quickly sliding into his seat, Michael’s attention was immediately caught by the sheet of paper in front of him, bearing the title of: TEST.

This rang a bell in Michael’s head, as he suddenly had a vague memory of being set the task of revising. Really vague. In fact he could barely remember it. Of course, whether he can remember or not doesn’t matter at this point, as the professor set a timer, everybody put a pen to paper and started furiously writing. 

Michael scratched his head. Did they even study this in class?

He tried to focus on the test.

Trigonometry. Triangles. Numbers.

Jeremy-wait no, math.

He nudged his glasses up his nose, where they’d quickly slid down.

Angles. More numbers. 

Jeremy. Jeremy. Jer-fuck, he’s doing it again. He tried not think about how pretty his eyes looked last night, with the yellow reflection of the street lamps, or how kissing him felt like something he wanted to do everyday. 

The timer buzzed, and Michael snapped his head up. Seriously? THAT was an hour already? Man, he had failed the head out of this test, he realised, from looking at the three answers he had managed to jot down.

Avoiding eye contact with...well anyone, Michael attempted to casually saunter out the room, but still succeeded in catching his foot on the doorway and trip, his books flying. Blushing, he grabbed them, and almost sprinted to his next lesson.

 

********

 

Jeremy had almost reached his cafeteria table, when he saw a black mop of hair approaching it from the other side.

He sped up slightly, quickening his pace. 

He and Michael arrived at the table at the same time, and just stared at each other, smiling hesitantly.

Christine noticed Jeremy first. 

“Oh hey, Jere, what was with you yesterday, you were so...” She trailed off as she too saw Michael in the corner of her eye, still grinning at Jeremy. 

“...ohhh.” Jake, who was seated next to Christine, still didn’t seem to get it.

“Wait, can you explain to me and the rest of us what you’re talking about?” But instead of replying, she just nudged him in the side and pointed first at Jeremy, then at Michael.

Everyone immediately laughed, and Jenna just pumped her fist in the air.

”Yes! Get it dudes!”

Both boys flushed a dark red, and hastily plonked down at the blue plastic table. 

 

Once everyone else had resumed conversation, Michael looked up at Jeremy, his eye soft and sweet. 

“So how were your lesson?” Jeremy asked. 

“Yeah, I mean it’s school, how good can it be? I totally failed my math quiz though.”

”Ha! I did that one last week, it sucked.”

Michael grinned and changed the subject. 

“I was thinking, do you wanna hang out after school? We could get frozen yogurt or something?” Michael sounds admittedly quite hopeful.

”That sounds cool...but we could also chill at your house?” Jeremy answered, hesitantly.

“Yeah sure, whatever you want, I’m game...ha! Pun!”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Dude that’s hardly a pun, and it sucks anyways.”

They kept chatting for the entirety of lunch, and almost didn’t even notice when it ended. 

***

Later, the boys finally made it to Michael’s, and were relaxing on the beanbags in his basement. Jeremy could hardly pay attention to anything Michael was saying- the words were going in one ear and out the other. However Michael apparently did not realise how unfocused he was, until he asked Jeremy a question and was answered with silence. 

“Jere? Jere? Jeremy!” 

Jeremy blinked, and looked over. 

“Yo, you okay dude? You were totally spacing out weren’t you? I mean I-“ 

Jeremy stopped his amble chatter with a kiss, light and sweet. 

“What was that for?” Michael asked, bemused with the sudden change of mood, “You okay?”

Jeremy gazed into his eyes and answered.

”I’ve never been better.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! We made it through! I’ve really enjoyed writing this, and I’ll definitely be writing more in future.  
> I wasn’t very sure about the ending, but tbh I was just excited to finish so I decided it was good enough for me!  
> I’m so happy about the love this fic has gotten, so thanks to anybody who took the time to read this.  
> If you want to request anything or just come and chill with me, come hang at my tumblr:  
> @justanawkwardlemon
> 
> Thank you all so much, this has been so fun!
> 
>  
> 
> Edit: Holy shoot, we got a thousand hits? I actually can’t belive it, thank you all so much!


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